Tours in Bulgaria

Start in Sofia, because almost everyone does. Stand outside the big gold-domed cathedral of Alexander Nevsky in the late afternoon and you will see people drifting between the yellow-paved streets, the café terraces and the park benches, and behind all of it a long dark ridge of mountain that never quite leaves the skyline. That is Vitosha, and it is the reason Sofia feels different from most capitals. The wild is a short drive away, and locals treat it that way.

You can go up in a day, in whatever mood you are in. Some people want the long climb to the top. Others want the forest path to the Boyana waterfall, or a rocky edge like Kikish or Kamen Del where the whole city lies flat below you. Go after dark and the lights of Sofia come on beneath your feet. Bring layers, because the weather up there changes its mind faster than you do.

Head the other way, out across the Balkan Mountains, and the country gets stranger. Saeva Dupka is a cave you walk down into, cool even in summer, with mineral colours and formations that look more like a stage set than rock. Prohodna is the opposite, an open passage you walk straight through, with two round openings in the roof that people call the Eyes of God. Stand under them when the light comes down and you will understand the name.

Bulgaria is bigger than Sofia and its caves. There are the Rila and Pirin mountains, monasteries tucked into forest, the Black Sea coast with Varna and Burgas, Plovdiv with its hills and old town, and Veliko Tarnovo draped over a bend in the river. We do not sell tours to all of these yet, but a local guide can often arrange one if you ask.